A rotary concentrator is an air pollution abatement device that removes or captures volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from a contaminated air stream or waste stream, thus cleaning the air stream and letting clean gas pass through the concentrator as disclosed, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,693,123 assigned to the assignee of this application. Sometimes, along with the VOCs, semi-volatile compounds (SOVCs), in the form of a liquid organic mist or entrained particulates is also present in the contaminated air stream. These compounds tend to accumulate on the adsorbent of the concentrator, rendering it ineffective over a period of time. At present, the adsorbent in the sections of the rotary concentrator are washed using a suitable liquid, primarily water, which may include a detergent, by shutting down the rotary concentrator and spraying the washing liquid through the adsorbent of the rotary concentrator either in-situ or by removing and cleaning the adsorbent. As will be understood, this method of cleaning the adsorbent of a rotary concentrator significantly reduces the efficiency of the concentrator requiring the contaminated or waste stream to be stopped or transferred to a second rotary concentrator during the washing cycle.
The method of cleaning the adsorbent of a rotary concentrator of this invention overcomes this problem by washing and cleaning the adsorbent of a rotary concentrator in-situ while continuing to process and clean contaminants from the waste stream greatly increasing the efficiency of the rotary concentrator.